Devil Soul
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Tech-savvy Taliban fight war in cyberspace
KABUL: The war in Afghanistan entered cyberspace on Wednesday when the tech-savvy Taliban said their phones, email and website had been hacked to spread a false report that the movement's spiritual leader, Mullah Omar, was dead.
Although the Islamist group banned television during its time in power between 1996 and 2001, its communication strategy in the decade-long war now includes a website, mobile phone text messages, emails and posts on Twitter and Facebook.
Pakistani author and Taliban expert Ahmed Rashid said that prior to 2001, the Taliban's "media reach to the Afghan people and the world had been virtually zero and totally ineffective". "They learnt quickly that the war against the Americans had to be fought on many fronts," he said.
The Taliban are paranoid that modern technology will betray hiding places. They have threatened to attack mobile phone operators' towers and offices if networks aren't shut down at night, when they fear foreign troops could track them down.
The cyber attack on Wednesday again sparked Taliban threats of revenge against the telephone network providers. They blamed "American intelligence" and accused a "cunning enemy" of committing "technical larceny".
A spokeswoman for NATO-led troops in Afghanistan said they had no information about the incident. The Taliban regularly change the addresses of their websites, and website addresses are often corrupt or link to other websites such as dating or online shopping sites.
And just as the British parliament is investigating claims of phone hacking by Murdoch's News of the World newspaper, the Taliban said their Information and Cultural Commission has started an inquiry into how its communications were hacked.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force declined to comment on the Taliban allegation.
Tech-savvy Taliban fight war in cyberspace
KABUL: The war in Afghanistan entered cyberspace on Wednesday when the tech-savvy Taliban said their phones, email and website had been hacked to spread a false report that the movement's spiritual leader, Mullah Omar, was dead.
Although the Islamist group banned television during its time in power between 1996 and 2001, its communication strategy in the decade-long war now includes a website, mobile phone text messages, emails and posts on Twitter and Facebook.
Pakistani author and Taliban expert Ahmed Rashid said that prior to 2001, the Taliban's "media reach to the Afghan people and the world had been virtually zero and totally ineffective". "They learnt quickly that the war against the Americans had to be fought on many fronts," he said.
The Taliban are paranoid that modern technology will betray hiding places. They have threatened to attack mobile phone operators' towers and offices if networks aren't shut down at night, when they fear foreign troops could track them down.
The cyber attack on Wednesday again sparked Taliban threats of revenge against the telephone network providers. They blamed "American intelligence" and accused a "cunning enemy" of committing "technical larceny".
A spokeswoman for NATO-led troops in Afghanistan said they had no information about the incident. The Taliban regularly change the addresses of their websites, and website addresses are often corrupt or link to other websites such as dating or online shopping sites.
And just as the British parliament is investigating claims of phone hacking by Murdoch's News of the World newspaper, the Taliban said their Information and Cultural Commission has started an inquiry into how its communications were hacked.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force declined to comment on the Taliban allegation.
Tech-savvy Taliban fight war in cyberspace
